“Never,” he said—quiet, certain.
This time she smiled so broadly he thought, for an absurd instant, that he might fall to his knees.
“Better,” Lucas said softly.
“What is better?”
“You, smiling. So beautiful. So utterly beautiful.”
Her colour rose again; the smile faltered as she turned back to the roses. “You will have me blushing all day if you continue.”
“Then I shall count the afternoon a triumph,” he said lightly.
She shook her head, but the smile returned.
For a moment, Lucas almost forgot the watching eyes of society, the weight of whispers that shadowed her steps—the tasks that awaited him, the web he must unravel.
Almost.
Chapter Seventeen
The fire in the grate hissed as Lucas fed another log into the embers. The brighter blaze only lengthened the shadows that leaned against the panelled walls.
He returned to the centre of his study, shoulders slightly hunched, and let one hand travel slowly over the papers spread upon the table: manifests, ledgers, margins annotated in William’s neat hand. Beneath those lay the frailer folios salvaged from his father’s study—documents that had once belonged to a man now in his grave and whose name had been sullied beyond repair.
He exhaled slowly. “It is there, Frederick. A pattern anyone with half a brain could follow. Shipments arriving under false names, financing routed through a half-dozen fronts, debts disguised as investments. And always the same few names appearing time and time again.”
By the window, Frederick leaned one shoulder against the frame. For once, he was still. Calm. “Names such as Lord Orvilleton.”
Lucas lifted his gaze. “Lord Orvilleton, yes. And Lord Redley. But never in ink firm enough to bind them. It seems they have been far too careful.”
“Careful men can make mistakes,” Frederick said quietly. He faced Lucas, arms crossed. “Especially when they grow arrogant. And I have a feeling that Lord Orvilleton’s arrogance is boundless.”
Lucas tapped a finger against one of the manifests. “William’s work at the docks was thorough. Without him, we’d have nothing to show. But even this—” He flicked the edge of the paper. “It’s just a suggestion, not solid proof.”
“Suggestion can ruin a man as thoroughly as proof,” Frederick replied. But he, too, knew the truth. It was not enough.
Lucas arched a brow. “Will it be enough to ruin him as he ruined Lord Trenton?”
Frederick tilted his head but did not look away. “I’m afraid I cannot be the one to say, Your Grace.”
For a moment, only the fire filled the silence in the room. Then Lucas went to his desk to sit, folding his arms. “Tell me, then. What else have you learned of Lord Redley?”
Frederick straightened at once and began the familiar pacing, fingers twisting in the air. “His decline worsens. For three nights, he has nearly come to blows with creditors at Brooks’s. An investigator saw him last evening in a tavern so far beneath him that his presence caused whispering. He shouted at nothing, spoke of conspiracies and powerful men plotting in corners—of debts not his to pay. Pressed, he named no one, but his ramblings were enough to unsettle those who overheard and to set the rumour-mill turning.”
Lucas’s brow tightened. “Which is why Orvilleton and his circle will move against him, if they have not already.”
“I believe so, too.” Frederick continued to pace, though his movements were measured, not frantic. “They cannot allow him to unravel in public when he may drag their names with him. And yet, the man cannot hold his tongue; he grows reckless by the day.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed on the flames. “That recklessness may serve us—if it does not destroy him first.”
Frederick halted, his gaze sharp. “You would use him, then?”
“I would use anyone,” Lucas answered coldly, “if it meant learning the truth of what they did to my father—and to Lord Trenton.”
Frederick examined him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “That is what I expected you to say.”
They stood a while in silence. At last, Lucas spoke. “Continue to watch him. Closely. If he slips further, we must be ready to catch what spills from his mouth before it is silenced forever.”
